Torque Wrench

[Guest reepo]

Can anyone recommend a torque wrench??

Thanks,.

[gll429]

yes! get one... :fing02:

please tell me your playing around..

go to sears or the home depot and get one.. a craftsman or husky.. good stuff warranted for life.

if you have big bucks get a matco or mac :fing02: ..

i dont trust snap-on as every time something breaks they try to charge me 10 bucks or so as an "exchange fee'

i got rid of all of my snap-on stuff and wrote them a letter telling them they are not welcome to my shop ever again. :bliss:

[Jovinski]

Can anyone recommend a torque wrench??

Thanks,.

I say go with the best that you can comfortably afford. I have seen some really great ones for not much money. I purchased a Great Neck from Autozone about eight years ago for less than thirty bucks, but I got what I paid for. I had it set for about 15 ft pounds when I was tightening the bolts on my water pump and it didn't do the job. It never clicked and I ended up breaking a bolt. I still have it, but I only use it for large torque jobs, like lug nuts for the cars and bike. i don't trust it below fifty foot pounds. When I break into my Sequioa's engine this summer to replace the timing belt and water pump I will be buying either a Snap on or if funds are limited, a Husky. I have a lot of Husky tools and like them alot. Craftsman makes really good wrenches and socket sets, but I have never used one of their torque wrenches....

[Serenity_VFR]

yes! get one... :fing02:

please tell me your playing around..

go to sears or the home depot and get one.. a craftsman or husky.. good stuff warranted for life.

if you have big bucks get a matco or mac :fing02: ..

i dont trust snap-on as every time something breaks they try to charge me 10 bucks or so as an "exchange fee'

i got rid of all of my snap-on stuff and wrote them a letter telling them they are not welcome to my shop ever again. :bliss:

The Craftsman torque wrench is not guaranteed for life -it's "power" equipment they say -that is what 2 different Madison stores told me when I brought mine in after the handle spun itself off and the nut that holds it on fell off.

I got a $9.99 one from Harbor Freight. I buy all my tools at Harbor Freight now. They might not be quite as cosmetically perfect but the metallurgy on the Pittsburgh brand is just fine. They are only marginally behind the Craftsman line and they are gaining ground fast. I wouldn't be surprised if the Craftsman tools are made in teh same factory in china these days.

That, and I refuse to shop at K-mart.

[Jovinski]

yes! get one... :bliss:

please tell me your playing around..

go to sears or the home depot and get one.. a craftsman or husky.. good stuff warranted for life.

if you have big bucks get a matco or mac :fing02: ..

i dont trust snap-on as every time something breaks they try to charge me 10 bucks or so as an "exchange fee'

i got rid of all of my snap-on stuff and wrote them a letter telling them they are not welcome to my shop ever again. :pissed:

....um, nix what I said about snap on.,,, :goofy:

[AvalonRacing]

Armstrong makes a mean torque wrench too. Check out ebay.

[Rydn4fun]

Wow I never had a charge returning a Snap-on tool. Sounds like you need to contact your district rep and blow that dealer in. But on the other side none of the manufacturers give lifetime warranties on torque wrenches.... that I am aware of.

[Cogswell]

I've had my Proto torque wrench for over 25 years. I use it every time I rotate tires or for any other service related project I do - brakes, whatever - so it's had a lot of use. Its scale is 10 to 150 ft-lbs. I took it to a service center to check its calibration and it was right on the money. Proto is owned by Stanley and is not commonly found in retail stores, but you can find them on Ebay all the time. Industrial supply houses usually carry them too. I would wager that it's a significant step up in quality from the consumer brands but maybe a lesser $ alternative to SnapOn, Matco, etc - and as far as I know they are still made in the U.S. but I can't say for sure. I doubt that (at least I hope not) the Honda tech at the dealer is using a $20 Chinese torque wrench on my bike. The cost to the tech or the shop of a mistake by stripping something out (or probably worse, having it fall off) would far exceed the money saved on the tool (that's the way I look at it - if I'm installing a wheel or a brake caliper and my life is riding on it being torqued properly, I want the best tool I can afford). I also purchased an inch pound torque wrench - same brand - (max 200 in-lbs) for all those little fasteners that go in to aluminum bosses and especially for spark plugs - things that can be easily stripped out but which cost a ton to fix. No point is guessing and stripping out an $$ piece.

[FJ12Ryder]

JMO but if you're mostly going to use them on the bike then you really need two wrenches: a 1/4 inch, and a 3/8 inch. Most 3/8 inch aren't really going to be accurate enough at the very bottom of the scale for use on small nuts and bolts.

Also JMO but I would avoid all cheap 12 point wrenches and sockets, you'll save yourself a lot of grief if you stick to 6 point wrenches and sockets unless you go to very high end stuff. I use Craftsman mostly and all 6 point if at all possible.

[pres589]

It's a long story but I've been using the same Craftsmen Digi-Torq for about 12 years now as a home mechanic and it's been pretty good to me. I don't know if they're still sold, I didn't want it because it's got a plastic handle but it's not given me any trouble.

For small things I also have some random-brand 3/8" drive inch pound torque wrench that I picked up from a parts store when I was in a hurry. I think it's important to have something like that around to deal with small torque values that you run into for fasteners that go into aluminum castings and other soft fixtures. If I had it to do over again I probably would have gone with Craftsmen on that as well.

[SEBSPEED]

I've got 3 that I use now, still looking for the right deal on more! Get one! :bliss:

[phaedrusman]

if you have big bucks get a matco or mac :fing02: ..

i dont trust snap-on as every time something breaks they try to charge me 10 bucks or so as an "exchange fee'

i got rid of all of my snap-on stuff and wrote them a letter telling them they are not welcome to my shop ever again. :musik20:

Seriously? I'm not going to lie...I'm a Snap-On junkie personally. That said, I've been through 4 different dealers - one in Milwaukee WI, one in Macon GA, one in South Houston TX, and am on my current one in north Houston. I bought the large bulk of my tools from the dealer in WI, but I've had to swap out alot of broken tools since and have never even heard of an "exchange fee". No muss, no fuss.

I'm with Rydn4fun. Contact Snap-On corporate and run that jerk through the wringers - that reflects badly on their Brand Image.

Back on topic. Another good place to find deals on tools - pawn shops. I've seen guys get some screaming deals on excellent tools.

[gll429]

if you have big bucks get a matco or mac :cool: ..

i dont trust snap-on as every time something breaks they try to charge me 10 bucks or so as an "exchange fee'

i got rid of all of my snap-on stuff and wrote them a letter telling them they are not welcome to my shop ever again. :fing02:

Seriously? I'm not going to lie...I'm a Snap-On junkie personally. That said, I've been through 4 different dealers - one in Milwaukee WI, one in Macon GA, one in South Houston TX, and am on my current one in north Houston. I bought the large bulk of my tools from the dealer in WI, but I've had to swap out alot of broken tools since and have never even heard of an "exchange fee". No muss, no fuss.

I'm with Rydn4fun. Contact Snap-On corporate and run that jerk through the wringers - that reflects badly on their Brand Image.

Back on topic. Another good place to find deals on tools - pawn shops. I've seen guys get some screaming deals on excellent tools.

i am not kidding.. 3 different snap -off guys.. i had a drawer full of busted stuff. about $900 worth of tools.. the final straw came when i NEEDED the swivel that broke.. its a $45 tool..the guy tried charging me.. i said hell no.. called the district rep..AND the matco tool guy.. so the rep cam and gave me a bunch of new tools in the wrappers.. and a few more extra stuff.. and then i traded it ALL to that matco man.. and ALL my snap-off to pals for matco tools.. right in front of the rep.. and explained i will NEVER trust snap-off again....i asked him..... why the heck did i have a drawer full of busted tools when a made in india POS didnt break??? or the mac? or the matco??

oh.. as for the craftsman tools of you dont get a new one.. find the newbe worker and they will almost always give you a new one.

:fing02:

[Synaptic Misfire]

I have a 3/8" Foot Pounds Husky and a 3/8" Inch Pounds Craftsman. I find the two scales overlap nicely for work on the bike. Bear in mind Torgue wrenches are most accurate in the middle of their scale and DO NOT remain accurate forever. For seriously accurate wrenches the prices start around $500 and go up, that does not include the cost of having it re-certified every couple of years. For our purposes the mid range ones work fine.

[vfrcapn]

yes! get one... :fing02:

please tell me your playing around..

go to sears or the home depot and get one.. a craftsman or husky.. good stuff warranted for life.

if you have big bucks get a matco or mac :fing02: ..

i dont trust snap-on as every time something breaks they try to charge me 10 bucks or so as an "exchange fee'

i got rid of all of my snap-on stuff and wrote them a letter telling them they are not welcome to my shop ever again. :pissed:

The Craftsman torque wrench is not guaranteed for life -it's "power" equipment they say -that is what 2 different Madison stores told me when I brought mine in after the handle spun itself off and the nut that holds it on fell off.

I got a $9.99 one from Harbor Freight. I buy all my tools at Harbor Freight now. They might not be quite as cosmetically perfect but the metallurgy on the Pittsburgh brand is just fine. They are only marginally behind the Craftsman line and they are gaining ground fast. I wouldn't be surprised if the Craftsman tools are made in teh same factory in china these days.

That, and I refuse to shop at K-mart.

Had a similar problem with my Craftsman, the lock ring broke. It still works but I have to be careful not to rotate the handle after setting it. Was disappointed it only went a couple years before this issue. No free replacement.

[KevininAtlanta]

Can anyone recommend a torque wrench??

Thanks,.

November, 2010, I purchased a Craftsmen DigiTork 3/8 torque wrench for $79.00

Kevin in Atlanta

[RustyA]

I like these. I can go from ft lbs. to inch lbs. to newton meters with a push of the button. :fing02: When they hit the setting. They beep and vibrate. And I can look and see how close I am to the torque setting I put on the bolt by looking at the reading. They have paid for themselves a couple times over. :biggrin: I love them, even tho some people here hate them. :lobby: To each his own.